


Three Soulmates Coming Up!

by Her Own Hero (MeganMay15347)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Has Nightmares, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Platonic Soulmates, Polyamory, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Steve Rogers is Not a Virgin, The Avengers (2012) Compliant, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-07-03 07:39:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15814428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMay15347/pseuds/Her%20Own%20Hero
Summary: Ryder Long lived in a world where soulmates were real, and everybody had one. Sometimes, rarely, you had two. But only 2% of the world’s population had three. Everybody had an indicator of their soulmate, the first words the person would speak to you.Ryder was part of the 2%, or 144 million, people to have three soulmates. She had her soulmates' first words to her practically memorized. She daydreamed about the situations she would find herself in when it came to meeting them for the first time. But what she didn’t plan on was who they turned out to be and the trouble they caused for an empath like her.





	1. EPIGRAPH

**Author's Note:**

> Ryder Long (to me) is played by Vanessa Hudgens.
> 
> Heed the tags. I will add more along the way as we go!  
> If there is something that comes up that doesn't jive with you, just click out. Don't be mean and send nasty comments.  
> Be nice, be safe, and have fun!  
> Love yinz!

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

– Lao Tzu


	2. CHAPTER ONE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Ryder meets her three soulmates

Ryder Long was one of those girls to obsess over her Soulmate Marks when she was little. Everybody had at least one. It was rare to have two, and only 2% of the world had three. Ryder fit into that 2% of the world category with three soulmates that she knew nothing about.        

Well, that’s not exactly true.

She knew that one was polite-ish, one was flirty, and one seemed to almost be a martyr. She wasn’t really looking forward to meeting the last one purely based on the fact that she had met people like that and never enjoyed their company. Ryder was just excited to meet the people she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with.

That excitement dwindled a bit as time went on and she saw most of her friends find their soulmates and marry by high school graduation. Even her brother, who was younger than her by two years, had met his soulmate at the age of fourteen. Ryder just hoped she wouldn’t have to travel across the globe to find them. Otherwise, she never would as she didn’t intend on ever leaving her hometown of Brooklyn.

The thought of never finding them broke some of her hope. She grew to like her independence and enjoy her life as a single woman without the ties of three others that would most certainly complicate her life, she often reasoned with herself. She pushed herself into work, into her ability, into her family, into her friends, into anything she could to get away from the marks on her body.

What she didn’t expect was to quite literally run into one of her three soulmates during the alien invasion on New York.

 

**MAY 2012**

“Come on – come on – come on!”

Ryder ushered families away from the rubble and the fighting. She was one of the many Paramedics on call during the chaos that reigned over New York City that day. Thankfully her own family was safe with some friends outside of the city, and it was her job to help those who were not safe. It didn’t matter that she could feel nearly everything they did making her want to cry out in pain, she had made a vow to help, and she wasn’t going to back out now.

“My daughter!” A mother screamed.

Ryder’s heart broke with the pain in the woman’s voice and inner emotions, as though it was her own pain. Her head snapped over to where the woman was pointing as the older woman was dragged away by an older man. Ryder could see a little girl, no more than five, crying in the middle of the street next to an overturned car. She was being approached by one of the aliens when Ryder ran in between them. She brought the little girl into her and shielded her and was ready to take whatever blow was about to be dealt, but it never came.

Ryder opened her eyes to come face-to-face with Captain America whose shield was stuck in the alien whose limbs were jerking around.

“Go,” Ryder whispered to the little girl, “go.”

The little girl ran off to her mother while Ryder stood up straight. Captain America took out his shield, and the alien slumped to the ground as the two stared at each other.

“Miss, you shouldn’t be out here,” Captain said.

Ryder’s jaw dropped as she felt thrumming in her left shoulder as the words on her skin were spoken. She grabbed her shoulder and was about to reply when James, a man she worked with, grabbed her arm.

“Ryder, we gotta go,” he said, dragging her away from Captain America.

 

It was that fateful, chaotic day that she met one of her three soulmates. But he had no clue who she was. And she didn’t think he ever would.

 

Ryder went the next year and a half without a clue as to who her other two soulmates were and where she would be able to find all three. It was only when she was transferred to DC as part of a ‘swap and trade’ proposition that she would be reintroduced to the first and meet the second.

Ryder was not pleased to be transferred away from her family, not pleased to be away from her brother, not pleased to be away from her friends and home. But she had no choice. It was work, and the only thing she could do was quit, and she wasn’t a quitter. So, she transferred down to DC just a week before a big aircraft fell out of the sky and into buildings.

Ryder couldn’t believe her luck when she found an unconscious Captain America sans mask lying on a beach. She tried to wake him up, but he wouldn’t, and that was when she decided to bring him to the hospital nearby. Ryder stayed there debating on whether or not to be there when he woke up when she met a man by the name of Sam Wilson.

 

**JANUARY 2014**

“So,” Sam Wilson said, trying to fill the silence, “Steve is your soulmate?”

Ryder cleared her throat uncomfortably. She hadn’t exactly said it out loud, not even to her own parents. But what was the harm in telling Sam when he was supposed to be Steve’s best friend?

“Um, yeah,” Ryder nodded her head, “yeah, I guess.” She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. She wasn’t used to being as honest as she was now. “I’m, uh, I’m going to get something to eat. Yeah,” she nodded her head again, almost like she was trying to convince herself. Maybe even convince herself of coming back. “You want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Sam shook his head, settling into the hospital chair. He pulled out his phone and began scrolling through it. “You go, I’ll stay here until he wakes up.”

_I might not come back._

“Thanks,” she gave him a small smile before leaving the room.

Ryder practically rushed out of the room, her heart beating loudly in her ears as she had felt the friendly-ness and friendship coming from Sam. It was odd and strange. She felt some of it directed toward her, something she hadn’t felt in a while. It fogged her brain and sent her emotions on a rollercoaster they hadn’t been on in a long time. It was odd, and it was part of the reason that made her want to go back; friendship.

She elected to head down to a pizzeria, decidedly hungry for a large pepperoni and sausage extra cheese and stuffed crust pizza. After getting her pizza, though, and just as she was about to enjoy it out on the patio, she felt strange emotions running through her that she knew absolutely weren’t her’s.

The emotions were all over the place, but one particular one stood out among the rest as disoriented. It was a strange one, not something she had encountered much but in soldiers in times of coming home.

Ryder turned away from her large pizza towards the feeling, the one that stood out above the white noise of everybody else and homed in on a man in a hoodie and baseball cap walking into the Captain America museum. She was torn between the delicious smell of her hot, greasy pizza and following the man who seemed to be struggling.

She groaned out loud as she shut the pizza box and picked it up.

“Why do I have to be so good?” She grumbled to herself.

She took the pizza box with her as she crossed the street and entered the museum. Ryder was about to be stopped by the security guard when she slipped through unnoticed as a couple behind her brought in their rowdy child. It was crowded inside, and it was easy to lose the man, but his emotions shouted out to her above everybody else’s. She followed the emotion yelling its way through her body to an exhibit about a man named Bucky Barnes.

Ryder could see the reflection of the man in the glass as he read the exhibit. He looked exactly like the man in the picture and the man from the news. It took her brain a few seconds to catch up, to push through the haze of her emotions and his to truly grasp just who this man was.

“So, you’re the Winter Soldier,” she said softly upon realization.

She expected something, a reaction, a change in emotions. But none of that came. He stayed stoic, not looking at her even through the glass. His feelings of disoriented-ness and melancholy still surged through her unchanging feeling like her own emotions.

“It wouldn’t be wise to be so close to me.”

Ryder’s inner right arm thrummed with the imagined martyr’s words. Except this man was no martyr, he was a killer. And for some reason, she wasn’t fazed. Maybe it was because this was one of her three soulmates or maybe because she didn’t feel the ordinary ‘killer’ emotions, but she wasn’t running terrified from the man standing in front of her.

She took a step forward so that she was next to him and turned to face him.

“Maybe not,” Ryder shrugged her shoulders, “but I got this massive pizza,” she wiggled the close box around, “and _none_ of it should go to waste. Wanna few slices?”

Bucky turned his head to look at the short and brave girl. He knew she was his second soulmate, but he didn’t want to hurt her like he did his first.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing his metal arm. It scared her for the first couple of seconds, to not feel soft flesh underneath the hoodie but instead something hard and unyielding. But she shook it off and placed a smile on her face. “Don’t want the pizza to get cold.”

Bucky stared at her as he let her guide him out of the museum and to the pizzeria’s patio. They both sat down facing each other as Ryder opened the box in-between them and took out a slice. Bucky watched her eat it with her eyes closed, savoring the taste. Ryder felt eyes on her and opened them to see Bucky watching her.

“See anything you like?” Ryder asked, swallowing her pizza. “Cause, ya know, I know I’m hot, but I’m not _that_ hot.”

Ryder expected a smile, a small chuckle but nothing came, and it was like a blow to her confidence. She finished her slice of pizza and wiped her hands on her jeans. The two sat in awkward silence for a few minutes as Ryder watched life unfold around them.

“I shouldn’t be here,” Bucky said finally.

“And why not?” Ryder asked, turning to look at Bucky. “I’d hate to pull the ‘soulmate’ card because that is _so_ 20 th century,” she said with an eye roll, “but… _soulmates!”_ Ryder gestured towards herself and Bucky. “We’re meant to be, and I doubt we can run from destiny. Trust me, I’ve tried. Doesn’t work out very well.”

“What do you mean?” Bucky asked confused. “You’ve tried to run from your soulmate mark?”

“All three,” Ryder nodded her head. “You have _no_ idea how hard it is to live in a world where everybody seems to find their soulmates, and you’re stuck alone.” She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “So, I coped. I built a wall and said ‘screw you’ to the marks and lived my life for me and – _God,_ why am I telling you this?” She stuck her hands in her hair and looked down at the table.

“I don’t know,” Bucky said just as confused.

“So, if you want to leave, leave,” Ryder looked up, pulling her hands from her hair. “I won’t stop you. I’ve got someone waiting for me back at the hospital.”

The last sentence struck at Bucky as he only knew one person that should be in the hospital at that moment and it was Steve. Was she their shared soulmate? The one he vaguely remembered looking for all those years ago?

“What’s your choice?” Ryder asked, feeling Bucky’s inner turmoil as if it were her own. “Stay or go?”

Bucky nodded his head, and Ryder felt what he was going to do. Without Bucky having to say anything, she sighed and pushed the pizza toward him with a small smile. She got up and pushed in her seat as she looked down at Bucky who stared down at the pizza.

“Good luck doing whatever it is you’re gonna do,” Ryder said with a nod and pursed lips. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Ryder turned around and walked away; Bucky looked up and watched her as she walked into the crowd of people and disappeared.

Ryder made up her mind as she forced herself not to look back at the man sitting at the table. She decided to return to the hospital, albeit still a bit hungry, in order to confront one of her three soulmates and finally put it to rest. She didn’t know how it would go, didn’t know how it would end. All she knew for sure was that she was going to speak to him one way or another and finish her part in the mark. Maybe she would abruptly leave after that, or perhaps she would stay. Being with her soulmates had not been a top concern of Ryder’s in a very long time, and she did not intend for it to become one suddenly.

She pushed aside her hunger as she rode the elevator back up to the fifth floor. She centered herself as it stopped on the fourth floor to let people in and out, pushing everybody’s emotions into the background as white noise as she had been taught to do when she was young. When the elevator opened at five, she found herself making her way to Steve’s room at the end of the hall.

What would she say to him, though? How would she broach the subject of being his soulmate? What would he say? Was he even awake? If he wasn’t, would she turn and walk away never letting him know who she was? Or would she stay and wait?

The questions caused her to start power walking to the room and, when she realized what she was doing, she slowed down her pace again to a casual walk as she reached his room and peered in. Both he and Sam were sleeping, putting a smile on her face. Music played softly, just barely enough for her to hear the tune but no words, as she stood in the doorway watching Steve sleeping hoping she didn’t look creepy. It was only a minute later that Steve slowly woke up and looked over at Sam completely ignoring her presence at his door.

“On your left,” Steve said.

Sam smiled, seemingly awake. He looked over at Ryder who stood there now at the door a bit awkwardly. He cleared his throat and gestured his head over in her direction. Steve looked over at Ryder whose eyes were shifted to stare at the ground instead of the man lying on the hospital bed as they were just seconds prior. Steve felt the need to introduce himself, even though Ryder should have done the introducing.

“Hello,” Steve said. “I’m Steve Rogers.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Captain,” Ryder said, slowly raising her head.

Steve recognized her almost instantly as the female EMT from New York. He now knew her as his second soulmate. The person he had been waiting for since he was old enough to read the writing on his stomach in his bathroom mirror. He didn’t doubt that this was the woman who was Bucky’s second soulmate, as well. He just hoped she would meet him when Bucky was in the right mindset and not the Winter Solider.

“My name’s Ryder. Ryder Long,” Ryder introduced herself, walking into the hospital room. “Been a while since we first met.”

“New York,” Steve nodded his head.

A soft smile graced Ryder’s lips.

“So, you remember,” Ryder said, ducking her head for a quick second before raising it again. “How nice to feel memorable.”

“I didn’t know-”

“That’s okay,” Ryder cut Steve off with a nod as she felt Sam’s awkwardness, “I didn’t expect you to. I never said a word. How could you know if I never spoke?”

Steve smiled at her, and Ryder returned the smile with a shrug of her shoulders.

 

Ryder finally felt good about herself after secretly hating and berating herself over not having found and interacted with at least one of her soulmates in twenty-seven years of life. In a span of less than a day, she had encountered and spoken with two of the three, and she felt accomplished. Though, she would never, _ever_ tell anyone that aloud as she felt it diminished herself as an independent woman and single women.

 

**FEBRUARY 2015**

It was on a day, a cold winter day, that Ryder found herself in New York alone as Steve had business to attend to. She had followed him to New York City from D.C. after the incident and returned home, meeting up with Steve often. It was on that day that she found herself walking by a very tall building with only a capital ‘A’ branded on the side. Ryder stared at it, wondering what the ‘A’ stood for when she bumped into a man seemingly in a rush to get somewhere.

“And who’s this sexy woman standing in front of me?” The man joked with a seemingly jovial smile on his face.

Ryder’s heart began to beat faster, matching the thrumming down her right side. Her third soulmate, and yet, something was wrong. His smile and happy demeanor didn’t match up with the emotions Ryder felt coming off him in waves. He wasn’t happy. He was tired and scared and depressed. She wondered what made him that way before she quickly realized exactly who was standing in front of her.

Tony Stark.

“You talkin’ to me?” She asked him sassily. She saw, and felt, the flash of recognition over the words like she saw, and felt, when it was her brother and his soulmate. “Cause if so, you better think twice before opening your mouth again.”

“Wow,” spilled from Tony’s mouth involuntarily. “So, you’re-”

“The name is Ryder Long,” Ryder said, raising an eyebrow, “and I know all about you, Tony Stark.”

Tony seemed a bit shell-shocked by her, stuttering as he tried to come up with a coherent sentence that didn’t offend the seemingly annoyed and HBIC-type woman she was.

“Tell Steve I said hi,” Ryder smirked. “Maybe he can explain it to you as I’ve got to get to work.”

“Wait, Princess!” Tony shouted as Ryder began to walk away. She turned around and stared at him, partially wondering why in the world he called her 'Princess' and partially because she wanted to see his expression. “How do you know Cap? How did you two meet?”

Ryder smirked at him, her eyes twinkling as she could feel the confusion and small jealously flowing through him like it was her own emotions. She shook her head though and began to walk backward into the crowd.

“Guess you’re just gonna have to ask, ain'tcha?”

Ryder turned around and disappeared into the crowd, leaving a confused Tony in her wake.


End file.
